Spare time

For better or worse, I've got a fair amount of free time these days. B says it's my last stand - the last time I'll have a ton of time to myself for a long while. This is true, if things go according to plan I'll be in nursing school next fall and a working nurse two years later. The fact that I have free time now is a blessing and a treat.

What the hell, though, am I supposed to do with the time I've got on my hands? Here are my ideas, and I'm happy - THRILLED - for more. I swear, I'm not hating on free time, but I am not the best at dawdling the hours away. I'm a busy gal, what can I say?

• Cooking - I'm trying to make something of all the food we've got. Sometimes that's just chopping food to pop in the freezer. Mostly though, I'm making muffins, pies, pasta, peanut butter, crackers and other things that turn out a special when you make them from scratch. I mean, how impressive is it to make your own food? C'mon. This week I've roasted pumpkin for... well, we've got pumpkin from our farm share, I'm not entirely sure what I'm using the heaps of pumpkins for. Right now I'm roasting some pumpkin seeds in the oven.
  
• Baby-minding - I spend time with my nieces, which is most wonderful. I'm excited to spend my first day with NG next week and AJ and I have spent time together for many weeks now. It's a nice downtime, since generally babies are less busy than adults. AJ and I did venture with dear friend MDS to the suburbs for a Shiva. It was an adventure we'll speak about years from now. Usually, though, we venture to Target, Walgreens, the library and the park. Last week we visited Grandma Fergie - bringing a baby niece to a place with mostly older folks is akin to bringing a celebrity to a middle school. Very silly, delightful and mildly overwhelming.
• Election Judging - Tomorrow I am being trained to be an election judge in Chicago. I'm very excited. I've always dreamed of such a position. It's a volunteer gig, and I think it's important. Hooray process, right?
• School. Very important.
• The usual. I try to be a good friend, a letter writer (yes, I am the youngest person who buys stamps in the U.S.), a recycling person, an organized sort, a chef, a random sort who can get a pedicure mid-day on a Wednesday, an off-busy-time shopper, a reader, a stroller, a runner, a work-out-er, a calm, happy person. That shouldn't be too hard, right?
  

Routines: What do you read everyday?

I'm a reader. I've been a reader since I was a small person. I used to read Babysitters Club books and mysteries of any sort (but not scary books). When I commute I read the free commuter daily (Washington DC Express - awesome, Chicago Red Eye - less awesome). Every possibly Sunday morning I sit on the couch with the Sunday Tribune, making stacks of what I read, what I don't and paging through it all. I imagine most people who read blogs are also readers and I - truly - want to know what you read. Especially online. I find myself at a loss for what exactly to glance over sometimes, especially when I'm trying to read a bit between activities or get my brain moving in a particular direction. I'll spill my favorites - I must admit, it's almost like the blogs I read are my secret friends that I don't quite want to share. But sharing is caring. Here goes:

• Six Until Me - This is a thoughtful blog about living with diabetes. The writer, Kerri Sparling welcomed a baby girl this spring and is joyfully candid about life with Type 1 diabetes. This is my diabetes community fix. Kerri Sparling talks about things like the beauty of showering with out anything attached to you (free showers - a rare delight for people with continuous glucose monitors and pumps/pods) and the frustration of high blood sugars of unknown origin. Six Until Me has made me feel so normal, even about things that are not.
• Cupcakes & Cashmere - Now for something completely different. Californian Emily writes about fashion, home decorating and cooking. She's made homemade Oreos, which is a dream of mine, and she loves Halloween. I don't wear the clothes Emily wears, like at all, but I enjoy her perspective, and the fact that she bakes things I will never bake. Seriously.
  
• Smitten Kitchen - This cooking blog is honest, funny and makes your tummy growl. I've made Deb's black bean soup, blueberry muffins and spinoffs of a few other things. I love the photography, the humor and the happiness of a successful meal.
• Bittman - All right. I'm a little into Mark Bittman. He's a food writer for the New York Times and proved to me that I can make my own crackers. I can. That's pretty revolutionary. I read Bittman, even though sometimes I think he's a jerk. I read his recipes just because I think he's thoughtful and cooks like I cook. "Don't want to add that? Don't!" and "Use this or that, whatever - the idea's there." I read Bittman on his own site because I do not care about restaurants in New York, though I do like FloFab's advice.
  
• FitSugar - This website about being healthy is sort of dumb but always catches my attention. It's got lots of ideas and encouragement, which can be helpful.
  
• For news I look at the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Google News, New York Times, TBD (where BFF Julie runs things, she's bigtime!) and People magazine. I read People as an antidote to reading all other celeb news. It's possibly the least awful of them all.

I'll add as I think of other favorite things I read. What do you read? Tell me! I might want to read it too.

Since you asked, vaccinations...

I don't have any kids, and I'm not a doctor. You all know this, but I'm just saying. I've read with interest quite a bit about vaccinations (here, for instance).

Some people think vaccinations are bad, or the number of vaccinations children get is too high or that vaccinations aren't right for their kids. Legally, families can choose to vaccinate or not - states require certain waivers and doctors are also instrumental in such decisions. I say vaccinate. I say this for several reason, not least of which is my recent study of science nor my work at preschools. Let me lay it down for you:

• Vaccinations are remarkable. Microbiologist Edward Jenner figured out vaccines after a milkmaid said she didn't get smallpox after being exposed to cowpox. Jenner got a "volunteer" (an orphan) injected some cowpox inside him and then exposed him to smallpox later - no smallpox for the brave volunteer! Bravisimo!
  

• If we all get vaccines we are all helped. Most of us can survive a bout of measles or mumps. Many of us enjoyed a week of from school with chickenpox (watching The Princess Bride and using the cool crayon-pencils my mom bought me!). But, some people get very sick from the diseases we are vaccinated for. Those people are most often immunocompromised - for whatever reason it's easier for them to get sick and easier for being sick to turn into being very sick (or worse). Immunocompromised individuals are worthy of your sympathy - they are very young, very small, very weak, very old, or very compromised. Being compromised means that the body prioritizes one thing (like fighting cancer or a serious infection) over something else (like growing hair or fighting tiny viruses). We aren't vaccinated just for ourselves.
  

• Travel. What's eradicated? Smallpox. That's it. People on earth still get polio, malaria, yellow fever, rubella, tapeworm, mumps, measles, rubella and tons of other infectious diseases. Eradicating smallpox was the biggest deal since... well, eradicating smallpox. It's a big deal. If you aren't vaccinated you can't travel. When I visited Mali in West Africa you can bet - even at the worst airport in the world - they checked my World Health Organization vaccination card to see my yellow fever vaccine.
  

• Trust your doctor. I love my doctor. I ask her questions, she answers me, we talk. I know not every doctor is as great as mine, but it's important to trust your doctor and trust medicine. My doctor says it's smart for me to get a flu vaccine so I do. B's doctor doesn't think he needs one so he doesn't. We're both fine, and even if we're not we trust that our doctors helped us make educated decisions. The same is very true for parents, I think. According to peer-reviewed studies published in scientific journals vaccines are wise and safe. Doctors can alter vaccine schedules and help families choose vaccines that work for them (use the oral polio vaccine instead of the inactive-injected one, or skip a vaccine until later).

• Lastly, get vaccinated for what we don't know. We don't know how viruses and bacteria can change. For instance, we know that rotavirus - a gastrointestinal bug - can seriously harm infants. Babies can get sick and dehydrated and, in some cases, so dehydrated and sick they die. If you chose not to get your child vaccinated for rotavirus your child might not get sick, but could easily pass rotavirus along, or just help rotavirus get stronger. Microbes are tricky.
  
  This is my own rant - we don't know how strong bugs can get, or how they get strong exactly. But we do know that vaccinations help. If we can say that we want to help anyone - anyone at all, in the whole world - I think the idea of helping kids be healthier is one we can get behind. We can get behind it because we know it works. Science - and its dear friend history - say so.
  

I know there's a lot to the argument for vaccines (and really - truly - very little to say against vaccines as a whole, according to science). As a friend of little ones and a friend of science I wanted to say my piece.

Reclaiming my life from the clutches of Organic Chem

I'm so happy to say that last Wednesday I took my Survey of Organic and Bio Chemistry exams.

The tests were really hard, ridiculously challenging considering the time since I last sat in a chem class (end of July), but I was as prepared as I could be. I'm relieved and feeling incredibly happy and free.

Among many other things, I now have time for:

• Blogging.
• Studying Anatomy & Physiology, especially with these cool online games we've got.
• Running. (Yes.)
• Shopping - especially for shoes that are not falling apart. B tossed the sneakers I wear for bike rides and rainy days because they're disgusting. Rude!
• Organizing myself - my heaps of paperwork, my closet, our wedding cards/gifts/stuff, our meal plans, etc...
• Reading! I just started a Stephanie Plum novel - a complete delight.
• Cooking more. I've been a dinner-making machine, but now I'm going to put a little more heart in what I'm doing. Plus I can practice pie-making.
• More walks, bike rides, city-enjoying, etc.
• Since I took my test I am NOT (decidedly NOT!) feeling frustrated, sad, guilty, upset, angry or down about my summer of mediocre grades and extended Organic Chem misery. What's done is done. I'm rocking out at my current courses, still madly in love with science (and B) and ready to handle applications for nursing school.

Tomorrow I'm studying, reading, enjoying the suddenly warm weather, making peanut butter, cleaning a bit, and possibly figuring out something with the Kitchen Aid Mixer in my trunk. Hmm.